


My Treat

by ClaireKat



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 20:30:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4363145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireKat/pseuds/ClaireKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ladybug and Chat Noir prepare to face the final battle against their adversaries. The surprises never seem to end as they face such a trying task together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Treat

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this so late and idk what happened I just got Ladybug feels and started writing and this turned into…this??? I actually really like how it turned out and I’m glad the characters kind of took over, it ended up being much longer than I had originally anticipated. This fills a couple more of the prompts I’ve had in my inbox, so I hope you enjoy!

The vortexes of various purple and green lights continued to shoot up in numerous pillars throughout the city, giving Paris an otherworldly glow that seemed to spell the end of the world. The perplexed superhero duo that stood atop one of the city’s many rooftops found themselves helpless to figure out what they could do to stop all of this madness. There didn’t seem to be much that they could do apart from observing the collapsing cityscape before them and feeling their own resolves to fight and win collapse as well. The dismantling of the city brought on by the mysterious Hawk Moth was a possibility that they had always feared in the back of their minds, and now the unfortunate reality was coming to fruition. Ladybug pulled on her pigtails in frustration before standing up straight, clenching her fists, and setting her jaw. Chat Noir observed her rigid and determined form, his ears flicking in minor curiosity as he waited for his partner to reveal whatever plan the cogs in her hard working head were attempting to turn out.

“We have to find a way to stop this before anyone else gets hurt.” Her voice was heavy and hard, and Chat Noir found himself wishing that there was something, anything he could do to comfort her. It was clear that, like always, Ladybug was taking the brunt of the problem onto herself…but this was a problem that was beyond anything they could have anticipated. “We have to protect the citizens, we have to find the source of this chaos, and we have to end it. We _are_ superheroes after all…and if we don’t save the world from all of this, who will?”

 “Ladybug, it’s okay to be scared.”

His words somehow made her tenser, and Chat wondered if he had really crossed a line. He could think of nothing else to say to try and lift the burden that was weighing her down, putting that look in her eyes that told him she was set on nothing less than accomplishing the mission. Ladybug was going to save Paris—no, the world—even if it cost her her life. She was the kind of person that fought for justice and preserved the lives of everyone that she could. She cared about her world, and even those things that existed predominantly outside of it. Chat Noir was the one who handled all of the worrying she wouldn’t do for herself.

“This thing that we’re facing, this power that they’ve unleashed…no one expects us to be able to stop it. Heck, even the villains have already written us off of their proverbial list. We’re the underdogs, and that’s a fact. And in light of that reality, it’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to remember that you aren’t all powerful, that you’re mortal and you have weaknesses…both of us do. Just because you’re lucky doesn’t mean you’re bulletproof—”

“If this is supposed to be some type of pep talk you’re really missing the mark with it, Chat,” Ladybug interrupted, and Chat felt his ears twitch in unease as he examined the perturbed look that she was casting his way. “I understand that this situation seems overwhelming and even impossible to handle, but those just aren’t the kind of odds that we get the luxury of working with. If we want this world to survive…no, if _we_ want to survive, then there is no hurdle that we can’t overtake. We have faced so many battles together, always had each other’s backs, always managed to get out of every situation no matter how bleak and unbearable it might have seemed at the time. We might’ve stared into the abyss a few times, but even when we stood in its jaws, we were still able to make it out as a team.”

Chat Noir kept his eyes on her, his insides sinking as he noticed the glittering tears streaking past her mask and down her delicate, slightly flushed cheeks. She continued to speak as she extended a trembling hand towards him, her voice betraying what her tears had already explained. “I know it seems impossible, but we have to keep fighting. No matter what, I know that we can get through this. We have to. We were chosen to be superheroes for a reason, we were granted these powers and we were put into this partnership because we are the only people in the world that can stand up to the evil that we’re facing. I’m willing to bet we’ll even be able to defeat it. I usually have pretty good odds when it comes to betting, so why don’t we shake on it and agree that we won’t give up no matter what happens?”

Chat Noir placed his hand over Ladybug’s, pushing it down as he stepped towards her and simply pulled her trembling form against his chest. She nestled her head without complaint under the obnoxious bell that adorned his neck, and he felt her hands snake around his waist to entrap him in a hug that attempted to support him while also sapping him for whatever support he was willing to offer. He patted her hair gently, gazing out at the destructive backdrop that rose up behind her as more of Hawk Moth’s deployed energy columns ripped through the city, crushing the Paris that he and Ladybug once knew into a transformed rubble heap block by block. He clenched his own fists and took a step back, taking both of Ladybug’s hands in his own after swiftly wiping away what tears of hers he could with his thumb.

“I will fight this battle with you…no, I will simply fight with you until the very end. You know that as long as you’re in this, I am. There is no lucky charm duo without the two of us, right? It just wouldn’t be the same.” He offered her a soft, sad smile, the only one that he could seem to conjure at the moment. “No matter what, I won’t leave your side Ladybug. You are the strength that has kept me going through all of this, and now it’s my turn to be that support for you. You know I’ve got your back through anything, and I won’t rest until we’re both standing on the Eiffel Tower with Hawk Moth beaten to a useless pulp at our feet begging for mercy. We’ll make him and all his partners pay for the havoc they’ve wrecked on our city, and our world. You’re right, you’re pretty good when it comes to betting odds…and I’ve never been one to disagree with you. Now, how about we go and show these suckers what we’re really made of?”

That was all the encouragement that Ladybug needed. No matter what the situation, it seemed that Chat always knew the exact words that she needed to hear, and would deliver them in just the right way to dispel all of her doubts. She found herself almost drowning in a sea of emotion as she flung herself at him, wrapping him in a hug that felt like it sucked the air right out of his lungs before returning to her own feet and giving his arm a playful shove. She was rejuvenated, she was exhilarated, and she was ready to take on whatever the world might throw at her; that was the power that she and Chat gave each other when it came to being a team. She gave her partner a curt, determined nod before wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks, turning to face the area before her and decide where it would best serve them to strike first.

“Hurricane’s just a few blocks over…I would recognize those gusts anywhere,” she spoke firmly, already shifted into surveillance mode as she noticed the controlled phenomenon of wind gusting up throughout the streets, almost as if they were trying to compete with the energy vortex’s destructive power. “Let’s go give her a piece of our minds, and then see if she can give us any information concerning how we need to go about shutting down all of these weird columns or beams or whatever you want to call them.”

“Race you,” Chat purred, giving his partner a wink and not waiting for his retribution as he took off across the rooftops and made his way to the nearest source of damage to be dealt with.

He used his claws to skid down the side of a building as he came to the area Hurricane was currently occupying, digging his gloved fingers deeper into the brick as a barrage of wind gusts assaulted him before he could even make it to the street. As the wind and smoke settled he could see that Hurricane hadn’t actually acknowledged his presence yet and was rather preoccupied with her own plan of action, one which he wasn’t sure was even set to go along with Hawk Moth’s master plan or not. She didn’t seem to be working in tandem with the energy beams and their path of destruction, and she certainly wasn’t working together with any of her other villainous counterparts—perhaps taking her down was going to be easier than Chat Noir thought.

The unlucky hero had spoken too soon, though, as it seemed that Ladybug was the one who’s luck was about to run out. Focused only on her goal to apprehend and begin interrogating the fanciful weather villain that was tormenting this part of the city, Ladybug was too preoccupied to notice the trap that she had summarily fallen into. Chat watched in what seemed like slow motion as his familiar adversaries, the Mime Man and the Bubble Man, appeared behind the preoccupied heroine. Their movements indicated to Chat that they were preparing to set off an attack that would neutralize her or worse. A bubble was conjured for capture, and he noticed the distinct shadow of a bomb being cast on the building right next to where the scene was converging; the entire thing was an elaborate set up, Hurricane acting as nothing more than frivolous bait in an attempt to allow the villains to gain the upper hand on their number one opponents.

He didn’t have time to speak, and he barely had any time to act. Chat Noir moved without thought, diving past the distracted storm villain as he grabbed his partner and thrust her out of the way with all of the strength that he could possibly exert through his frantic and tensed muscles. His eyes darted towards her just quickly enough to observe that he had managed to push her out of the impact zone, and in the next second he launched a protective energy shield around her in a last ditch effort to do everything he could to preserve the life of the one person he loved. Considering he might be about to die, he figured that he was prepared to admit that fact now…he loved Ladybug, and if this was their last battle, if this was his last second on earth, he was content to accept that he had lost his life thinking of the one he loved.

The impact of the blast that hit him should have knocked him unconscious, though he considered the dizzying daze that he soon found himself in to be more than sufficient enough to immobilize him. Every part of his body ached without him even moving, and as he drug his blurry eyes around to try and comprehend the damage that had been done both to him and the surrounding area, he found himself attempting to hold back the urge to retch. He could hear the voices of the villains consulting, or rather arguing, clearly upset about the fact that Ladybug had managed to elude their grasp once again; the sorry sack of bad luck was the one to absorb the brunt of their assault.

He let himself lay limp, too weak to move any part of his body and feeling his consciousness slowly slip away to the background noise of screams and fleeing that he assumed were being caused by none other than his partner. The sound of wild footsteps preluded the sharp shocks of pain that befell the hero as his partner scooped him into her lap, her tears wetting his face where his blood hadn’t yet had a chance to. He forced his heavy eyes open, gazing up once again at her tear stained face and using all of his strength to lift his hand and wipe the tears away.

“How many times am I going to make you cry today?” he rasped, the rest of his words being cut off by rough coughs and spurts blood.

“Hush, don’t waste your words!” Ladybug snapped, wiping her own eyes for fear that if she didn’t he would continue to waste his strength on her. “You idiot, why do you always pull stunts like this? Shielding me at the last second, using all of your strength just to preserve my life? C’mon, a cat like you is supposed to have nine lives, and you shouldn’t be wasting all of them on the likes of me! I can’t finish my mission without a partner, and a lackluster partner at that…you don’t even land on your feet half of the time.”

Chat found himself helpless to contain the laughs that only wracked his body with more agonizing pain. The fact that he was even still able to laugh in the face of such injury was proof enough to him that he was happy, and that no matter what happened from this point forward, Ladybug had made all of this suffering worthwhile. He lifted his hand again despite her protests, stroking her cheek before coaxing her face closer to his and taking the last opportunity he might get to connect his battered lips to hers…it was like kissing a rose petal, like kissing light. She was everything good and pleasant about his world, and if he did happen to fade away in the wake of saving her life, he knew that it was all worth it.

“I don’t regret anything, and I certainly wouldn’t take any of it back…even the bad luck,” he managed to rasp, coughing a bit more and trying to suppress the groan of pain that followed. “You were my lucky charm through all of it, Ladybug, and I couldn’t have asked for a better—”

“Adrien?”

His name. How in the world did Ladybug know his real name? Chat forced his eyes open, startling at the familiar yet unfamiliar wide, blue eyed face that stared down into his own. The girl in whose lap he currently resided was none other than Marinette…Marinette, the girl that he had given up, the girl that he had forced himself to stay away from for her own sake. What was she still doing in Paris with all of this chaos, what was she doing here, on the battlefield? He tried to sit up, his whole system running overtime in shock, and he came to a reactive halt as he noticed that his own superhero uniform had reverted back to his normal clothes.

“Wh—what’s going on here?” he stuttered, his eyes turning back to the girl that he still wasn’t sure wasn’t just a dream. “Marinette, what are you doing here? What’s happening? Did I die?”

She lifted her hand to reveal the black ring that had provided him with his power and also resigned him to Hell for the majority of the past couple of years. The black cat ring that sat motionless in her hand represented both his power and his weakness, his strength and his downfall. His eyes darted to his own bruised and bloodied hands, such limbs beginning to tremble as he realized that the ring was nowhere to be found.

“Adrien…I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t even know if what’s happening now is real, or if this is some sort of dark and twisted nightmare that we’re sharing. Maybe it’s all just in my head.” Marinette spoke with Ladybug’s voice, her words laced with both conviction and disbelief. “But whatever the case, we still have a battle to fight. A battle to win. And I’m not going to be able to—no. Ladybug won’t be able to win it without Chat Noir.”

Adrien looked at Marinette, his eyes unable to break away from her own as she slid the ring back onto his finger and summarily returned the kiss that he had offered to the partner that he had fought alongside all of this time. A warm flow seemed to pass through him, and an otherworldly red light beamed from the spot where their lips met. Before he knew it Chat Noir was back in his costume, and the girl that leaned back from the kiss was undoubtedly not the girl that had just initiated it. He flexed his ears, his fingers, every muscle that he possibly had control over—the blood was gone, the bruises were healed, and the pain was nonexistent. Her kiss had healed him in more ways than one…it had freed him from the life that he resigned himself to living with no possible escape. Ladybug rose to her feet, and Chat followed her lead as she offered him her hand. He didn’t release it once standing, though, as he normally would have…no, Chat wasn’t ready to let go of the girl that he realized had changed his life irreversibly.

“I’m ready to finish this. And once we do, I think we have some serious things to discuss,” he admitted as he stared down the street that represented the path that they still had yet to conquer. “What do you think; will you finally go on that date with me?”

“I think it’s me who should be asking that of _you_ , Monsieur Elusive,” Ladybug retorted, and Chat Noir…no, Adrien felt himself smile despite the gravity of their situation. “I think you’ve got me beat when it comes to avoiding the advancement of our relationship.”

“Well, once we both make it out of this alive, I promise I’ll go on a date with you. My treat.”

Ladybug cast him an eager smirk. “Well, it seems my luck is finally turning around after all.”


End file.
